Under its scientific name, the Hump-backed Mahsee could be critically endangered

A lot. Scientific name for hump-backed mahseer could give it ‘critically endangered’ status, and save it

The hump-backed mahseer, one of the most talked about fish among anglers, has been on the verge of extinction. Not much could be done about it, since the fish had no scientific name and therefore, could not be put on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It left the fish unprotected against dynamite fishing or river engineering projects that threatened their habitat. However, a recent paper published by Adrian Pinder of Bournemouth University in United Kingdom and his colleagues, identifying it as Tor remadevii, changed things.

Pinder, also Director of Research at the Mahseer Trust, a UK-registered charity set up to conserve mahseer and their environment, says “It was unbelievable that such an enormous animal, recognised by anglers around the world, could be on the verge of extinction for not having a scientific name.”

His paper was spurred on by the alarming decrease in mahseer population in Cauvery. The former catch-and-release based recreational fishery of the Cauvery has been widely cited as positively contributing towards mahseer conservation. By comparing catch records, it became apparent that, since 2004, the species had experienced a dramatic decrease in population.

A fact-finding project was conducted, involving scientists from Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the three states through which Cauvery flows. The project aimed to find the fish and collect data (i.e. body measurements and DNA. “Our problem was that by the time we realised that this fish was close to extinction, we had the additional challenge of finding specimens,” explained Pinder.

Working with the fishermen of a local tribal community, the team were eventually successful in finding a small population of hump-backs in the isolated River Moyar, Tamil Nadu. The results revealed that the DNA sequence of the hump-backed mahseer was unique.

This led Pinder’s team to believe that they were on the cusp of naming a new species, until a paper published in a 2006 conference in Kuala Lumpur came to light. The paper had described Tor remadevii, fish from the River Cauvery’s southern tributary, the River Pambar. Pinder’s team confirmed that it was indeed the hump-backed mahseer. They published their findings in the scientific journal PLOS One.

This triggered an emergency meeting with IUCN experts in Pune, where a draft Red List assessment of Tor remadevii classified the species as ‘critically endangered’. “Securing the future of the hump-backed mahseer will depend on strong willingness and cooperation of the stakeholders from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, in one of India’s most contested rivers – the Cauvery,” pointed out co-author Rajeev Raghavan, Assistant Professor, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies.

Fact file

Scientific name: Tor remadevii

Dimensions: Can grow up to 1.5 metres and may weigh 55kg, termed megafauna